Nokia announced it has partnered with Apple
to use open source software to create a Web browser for smartphones using its Series 60 mobile phone software platform.
The Finnish telecom made the announcement Monday at its Nokia Connection Conference 2005 in Helsinki.
“Nokia is excited to enrich Series 60 with optimized mobile Web browsing,” Pertti Korhonen, CTO of Nokia, said at the conference, which was broadcast over the Internet.
Korhonen also said open source software was ideal for development since it will enable Nokia to leverage and contribute to speedy software innovation.
The browser will use the same open source components — WebCore and JavaScriptCore — that Apple uses in its popular Safari Internet browser, the company said.
Series 60 is expected to increase in value from manufacturers and operators to end-users, Korhonen said. It will also benefit from the flexible architecture, full Web compliance and a truly enjoyable user experience, he added.
Nokia says it plans to continue its collaboration with Apple and actively participate in the open source community to further develop and enhance these components, contributing to Nokia’s expertise in mobility.
“Apple is pleased to assist Nokia in creating their new Series 60 browser based on the same KHTML open source technology that powers Apple’s Safari,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement. “The Safari Web Kit’s blazing performance, efficient code base and support for open standards make it an ideal open source technology for projects like Nokia’s new Series 60 browser.”
Nokia says the browser will be available during the first half of 2006 and said it would continue to cooperate with Apple.
At the same event, the company announced its Series 40 Platform for application development. Nokia says Series 40 will open up new opportunities for developers and operators to target a broader consumer marketplace.
Also introduced was a plan to increase the options businesses have to optimize their voice services. Nokia will work with Cisco, OnRelay and IBM to broaden its strategy to offer enterprise voice mobility options.
Jaakko Olkkonen, Nokia’s general manager for enterprise voice solutions, said the strategy is a “fundamentally new way to marry the best of fixed and mobile telephony to provide cost savings and productivity to businesses and employees, new business opportunities for service providers, and simplicity and freedom for people in or out of the office.”
On the same day Nokia executives convened in Helsinki, the company hosted the Annual Nokia Connection 2005 event in Singapore.
There they unveiled three new CDMA handsets. The Nokia 6265 camera phone includes a 2 mega-pixel imaging sensor in a modern sliding design, according to the company. And in addition to its entry-level market line, the folding Nokia 2255 phone and Nokia 2125 offer 64K color displays and convenient integrated speakerphones.
The Nokia 2125 is expected to be available during the third quarter of 2005, while the Nokia 2255 and Nokia 6265 are expected to be available during the fourth quarter of 2005.
